Desperate
Plot After a young boy witnesses the brutal sexual assault and murder of his stepmother, his father blocks the efforts of the detectives to question him. Summary A resident at an apartment building calls the fire department after smelling smoke in another unit. Firefighters break down the door and find food burning on the stove, a frightened 6-year-old boy named Mikey, and his badly injured mother. The mother had also been raped and sodomized. Barely alive when the fire department arrived, she dies at the hospital during surgery. The mother’s purse and all other identifying information were taken by her attacker. A urine stain on the hallway carpet outside the bedroom suggests that Mikey witnessed the assault, and was so terrified by what he saw, he wet his pants. Police are unable to find the killer's DNA, fingerprints, & semen for this investigation. The apartment landlord identifies the mother as Dana McGuire. She had moved in a month ago, paying cash up front for three months. Her driver’s license had listed an upscale Central Park address. Dana McGuire is alive and well at the address on the license. Her purse had been stolen in a mugging some time before. The mugger, who is serving six months in Rikers, met “Dana” in a diner and gave her the license after she told him she couldn’t find work because she had no ID. He knew her as Jill, and her son as Tommy. Dr. Warner determines that Jill probably had not been able to have children, and that Tommy is not her biological son. Tommy draws pictures of Jill’s murder and of himself holding hands with Benson. When Benson asks if he knows any other numbers, such as those one might call in an emergency, he dials the Domestic Violence Hotline. A compassionate hotline worker identifies Jill as Jill Hoffman, and expresses her disgust that Jill’s husband “finally did it.” After three weeks at a safe house, Jill returned home long enough to pick Tommy up. But then the domestic violence workers couldn’t shelter her, for as Tommy’s stepmother, she had no legal right to take the boy from his father. They did find her a pro bono attorney to help her fight for legal custody. Jill's attorney tells Stabler and Benson that Dan started abusing Jill shortly after their wedding. Kim, Dan’s first wife and Tommy’s biological mother, had left a year prior, indicating that Dan likely abused her, as well. Dan psychologically terrorized Tommy, but Dan didn't do physical damage to Tommy yet. Jill knew that it was matter of time before Dan decided to physically abuse Tommy. Jill never made a domestic violence complaint because Dan's "Mr. Pillar-of-the-Community" in their exclusive small town of Rye, no one would believe he is abusive. Jill's attorney says, "Although there's a good judge, I knew that it was going to be tough for me to help Jill." Benson says, "You must've known that Jill was going to lose Tommy, so you told Jill to kidnap Tommy for his safety." Jill's attorney says, "I didn't tell Jill to kidnap Tommy." Although Stabler & Benson don't have enough proof to arrest Jill's attorney, they still believe that Jill's attorney told Jill to kidnap Tommy. Stabler & Benson are glad that Jill's attorney told Jill to kidnap Tommy. Stabler & Benson decide to go to Rye Police Department. While Stabler & Benson are in Rye, they receive more than 1 picture of Dan, Jill, Kim, & Tommy. Few minutes later, when Benson shows a picture of Kim to Tommy, Tommy begins talking to Benson. Tommy says that he and Jill had run away from his father. Jill was going to find them a new home, someplace far away where his father would not find them. Just as Tommy is going to talk about Jill’s murder, his father storms in. Tommy is clearly terrified, but he has been medically cleared and released to the custody of his father. Dan's alibi for the night of Jill’s murder is being at a business association dinner dance. The event was held at a place only five minutes from Jill’s apartment. Several attendees confirm that Dan was there. They also remember that he disappeared for about 45 minutes during the evening, then reappeared. Alex Cabot tries, unsuccessfully, to get court permission for Dr. George Huang to interview Tommy. To prove he is not the monster the police think he is, Dan submits to a police interview. He plays the grieving widower only too well for the detectives' taste, having the right answer for each question they ask. Munch later finds a new checking account in the name of Dana McGuire, but it is actually Jill’s. She had deposited some paychecks from a strip club known as Benny’s Topless into the account. Many of Benny’s customers are commuters who stop in before heading home to the suburbs. Jill quit in a panic the previous week, after seeing someone from her former hometown in the crowd one night. The credit card receipts from that night lead to a Mr. Rizzo, from Rye. To keep his wife from finding out he is not working overtime, he reveals that he told Dan about the Benny’s stripper who looked exactly like Jill. Stabler and Benson talk to Alex, pointing out that once Dan knew where Jill worked, all he had to do was follow her home. Their circumstantial information is enough for an arrest. Alex obtains a “silent indictment”, which leads to Dan's arrest and indictment for Jill’s murder. The case against Dan takes a major bad turn when the judge will not allow the domestic violence workers to testify that Jill told them she was being abused. Tommy’s testimony would convict his father, but SVU is still barred from talking to the boy. Alex asks about Kim Hoffman, who as Tommy’s biological mother has every right to talk to him. Stabler replies that SVU hasn’t been able to find her. Captain Cragen tells the detectives to find someone who’d known Kim. Allen Wheaten, the Hoffmans’ neighbor, knew Kim was being physically abused because he’d seen the injuries. He believes Dan murdered Kim, because late one night he saw a van pull into the Hoffmans’ driveway. Someone filled the van with garbage bags and drove off. The next day, Kim was gone. Wheaten contacted the Rye police with the van’s license plate number and his suspicion that Kim was murdered. The van belonged to a Dawn Trent, a soccer mom from Port Chester who said she’d been delivering Girl Scout cookies. Case closed. Dawn Trent tells Stabler that she had helped Kim escape that night from her abusive situation. Kim did not take Tommy with her then because Dan was on the verge of killing her. She hoped to return for her son once she was settled elsewhere. Stabler follows the chain of Kim’s rescuers, locates her and tells her the whole story. She tearfully tells him she had gone back for Tommy, only to see him happily playing on the front lawn with Jill. Kim then thought he was better off there, because what did she have to offer him. Stabler persuades her to come back for her son's sake. Dan's about to be acquitted of Jill's murder. If Kim doesn't come back for Tommy's sake, then Tommy will be returned to Dan. At the courthouse where Dan’s trial is in progress, Kim talks to Tommy in the hallway. The bond between mother and son is reestablished. When Tommy is called to testify, he and his mother walk into the courtroom together. On the witness stand, Tommy is too terrified of his father to speak, and the judge allows him to step down without testifying. As Alex leads Tommy past the defense table to leave, Dan flashes him a smile and says, “I love you, son.” Tommy looks at his mother sitting nearby, then quietly tells his father, “You killed Jill.” His attorney immediately asks for a mistrial, as Judge Ridenour calls for order in the court amongst the murmuring observers. Dan frantically urges his son not to testify against him, but Tommy turns to Alex and agrees to testify. Dan can only watch in silent, seething rage as his own son returns to the witness stand. Cast Main cast * Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler * Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson * Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch * Stephanie March as A.D.A. Alexandra Cabot * Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola (credit only) * B.D. Wong as Dr. George Huang * Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen Recurring cast * Harvey Atkin as Judge Alan Ridenour * Jordan Gelber as CSU Technician Layton * Tamara Tunie as Dr. Melinda Warner Guest cast * Rob Estes as Dan Hoffman * Signy Coleman as Kim Hoffman * Max Jansen Weinstein as Mikey / Tommy Hoffman * Haviland Morris as Dawn Trent * Adam LeFevre as Rye Police Chief * Suzanne Shepherd as Old Woman * Stephen Mailer as Mr. McGuire * Rita Gardner as Neighbor * Welker White as Jill Hoffman's Attorney * Sandra Bernhard as Attorney Priscilla Chaney * Lord Jamar as Leon * P.J. Benjamin as Lloyd Jackson * Michele Santopietro as Mandy * Richard Thomsen as Allen Wheaten * Mark Lotito as Mike Rizzo * Kate Goehring as Dr. Sally Ivers * Christy Baron as Ariana Kane * Michelle Hurst as Vita Weldon * Amy Love as Dana McGuire * Tom Bruno as Firefighter #1 * John E. Mack as Firefighter #2 * Libby George as Woman #2 * Kate Middleton as Woman #1 * Melanie Nicholls-King as Woman #3 * Rick Johnson as Court Clerk * Amy Dorris as Jill Hoffman (uncredited) References References Quotes *'Dan': (after Tommy fails to testify) I love you, son. *'Tommy': (looks at his mother sitting nearby, then quietly says to his father) You killed Jill. (court gasps) *'Priscilla': Your honor, I move for a mistrial! *'Judge Ridenour': Order, order! *'Dan': (frantically) Tommy, listen to me. Don’t do this. *'Tommy': (to Alex) I'm ready. I can do this now. ---- *'Priscilla': We request a speedy trial date. My client is eager to prove his innocence. An opportunity the ADA denied him in the Grand Jury. *'Alex': The District Attorney is under no obligation to inform... *'Judge Ridenour': I know the law, Miss Cabot. I also know your reputation for bending it. ---- *'Alex': Well, he wouldn't be a single parent if he hadn't killed his wife. ---- *'Benson': You've got an answer for everything, don't you. I'm not buying your 'loving father' act. Tommy's terrified of you. *'Dan': My son is everything to me. I would die for my son. *'Benson': Tommy almost died for you. You killed Jill and then you left him alone in that apartment. And had firefighters not responded so fast, you'd be burying him along with your dead wife. *'Dan': You wouldn't dare talk to me like that if you didn't have that badge and gun. ---- *'Trent': It's the same old story, Detective. Your husband's the nicest guy in town, but every night when he comes home, he beats you. He degrades you. He tortures you. And who's going to believe that the "Man of the Year" is a batterer? And you can't just leave. There's nowhere to hide in a small town. The only solution is to get away, far away, and start over. But that takes money. And help. *'Stabler': And that's what you provide? *'Trent': Not just me. A group of us. *'Stabler': What is this, some kind of DV Underground Railroad? *'Trent': You could call it that. ---- Background information and notes Background information and notes Episode scene cards Category:SVU episodes